DerekD

Turns out you can also find some six piece options as per this review.

Hi Paddy, What is the budget? Compact these days is not really an issue. Many rods come as a 4 piece and even my 9 foot long rod packs down into an easy carry small tube with a sling. For the small streams I expect a 5 weight is a good option. I'd suggest approaching this slightly differently and looking at a saltwater (stainless guides and runners) which means you can use it for both salt and freshwater. If you go 7 weight it can be used for larger trout, carp, bass and then several of the saltwater species. Regards, Derek

Hi All, (Work in progress – putting this in as a placeholder. Also sourcing more photos to insert) Most of my successes with kingfish and jewfish has been through the use of squid as bait. I prefer squid I have caught myself as I know how fresh it is and how it has been handled. My introduction to squid fishing with jigs was pretty basic. I have put in a lot of hours in since then to refine my technique with a few aha moments along the way. I thought I’d compile some of the advice columns I’ve put together into one post. To give credit to those before me, @slinkymalinky did an extremely good article on squidding several years ago which got lost in the site renovation and is still worth reading: To Stefano – thank you for the company on squidding sessions and letting me use some of those wonderful photos. Now for those people who prefer an abridged version in video format there is an excellent one by Yamashita which will cover a lot of information on squid jigging very quickly: While putting this post together I came across an nice article on squidding written several years ago (I don’t agree with the sink rate advice as I think the author has confused it with size but the rest looks well researched) – specifically have a look at the section on retrieve styles. http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/egi-master Before I get into the details. Squid move around and up and down through the water column. Asking for a squid spot doesn’t really help in that 15 minutes can make all the difference between them being there and the dreaded donut. There are areas in Sydney harbour where I catch them more consistently but it can be 1st cast or cast 100 or somewhere in between. If I really want to catch squid I have to try several of my spots. They have excellent eyesight. They can swim very quickly when they want so if they want your lure they can catch it but the trick is to entice them in. They can be aggressive or timid. Southern calamari seem to travel in twos and threes and of a similar size. Arrow squid I’ve hooked up to nine from what I think was a single school. I can also catch cuttlefish when I need to but I have to use a few of my spots (some of which require water access). SQUID The Southern Calamari (or green eyes). The wings run the full length of the body. Commonly referred to as arrow squid locally the wings only run the top half or third of the hood. Cuttlefish. Have a cuttlebone. Can be a little more rounded and have shorter tentacles compared to their body than the squid. While most of the ones I catch in Sydney harbour are small (up to 15cm) I’ve seen some ones bigger than a football out at the heads. SQUID JIGS Many years ago my local tackle shop was kind enough to arrange a presentation by one of the better known Japanese squid jig manufacturers. They showed us a cloth covered squid jig with a half coin as the weight and stated that it was over 300 years old. The presenter explained the Japanese are so passionate about their squid that they seeded the bays where squid would come with branches from the willow trees as a facsimile for sea grass on which the squid could lay their eggs. The research they have put into the lure design and colours is pretty impressive and that presentation is one of the reason for my bias towards Japanese jigs (as well as lightening my wallet on the night). If it came down to it I believe you could give me any legitimate squid jig and I’m confident enough in my technique that I can catch squid with it. I do, however, have my preferences. From the amount of squid that have gone for my white soft plastics I came to the conclusion a bit of white in the jigs wouldn’t hurt. I also like to have a vibrant colour such as pink or orange to make it really stand out. The clip point should be a solid ring rather than swivel – I’ve lost more squid jigs to the swivel failing over time than snags. I like the cloth covered ones for the tactile feel the squid get with a glow in the dark sub coating to get their attention at night. I want two rows of fine stainless tines as they penetrate better and will straighten on a snag meaning I have a better chance of getting it back. You will see sizes such as 1.6, 1.8, 2.2, 2.5, 3.0, etc. I’ve never found out why but my best guess is that relates to length in inches. Please don’t make the mistake of confusing size with density (or sink rate). I use a series of 2.2 sized jigs which has three different sink rates (slow, medium and fast) for different locations. Typically I find the sink rates for most jigs is around 3 seconds per meter. I’m not a fan of the razorbacks as to me it is extra clutter on the lure and I’m not sure how good the hook up rate is on the spines on top of the jig. To be honest I’ve never given them enough of a chance to come to an fair conclusion so I’d be interested in what the opinions others have of them. Companies such as Yamashita have put a lot of research into which colours work best under specific conditions (e.g. water clarity and light). For some further reading Google squid jig colour chart. Many people have found that changing the colour of a jig has resulted in the squid turning on. I will change out between a few of my more commonly used jigs but won’t bother following the chart. Some people will use scent on their jigs. It is another way of getting the squid interested. It is also another thing to carry and a hassle if it leaks through your gear and it can stain your jigs. I briefly tried some but haven’t put any serious testing against an unscented jig to see if it makes a difference. I’m not saying that they don’t work. There are companies that spend hundreds or thousands of hours developing and testing these products or alternatively just put it out there with the philosophy “build it and they will come”. Most squid jigs will have some sort of glow in the dark capability. Sometimes it is only a small band of luminescent tape and others are glow in the dark from front to back. You can hit them with a torch or street light in the area you are fishing or alternatively consider getting a UV torch as it charges them up several times faster than a normal white light torch. Spot the difference to the photo above. THE GEAR I use 2 set ups for my squidding. The first and my go to is my bream rod: 2-4kg, 3-12gram, 7 foot 6, graphite, 2500 reel, 4lb braid, 8lb leader. The second is if I am fishing a really weedy area and am expecting to get snagged up: 5-8kg, 15-45gram, 7 foot 6, graphite, 4000 reel, 15lb braid, 30lb leader. I use a swivel and duolock clip so I can quickly and easily change out jigs. Over the years I’ve heard people argue that braid with its minimal stretch will result in more pulled strikes than mono. I don’t lose many squid and if I do they were badly hooked in the first place (just a small tip of the tentacle comes back). Playing them with a soft hand makes up for the lack of stretch in the braid and I’d prefer to have the extra casting distance and sensitivity of braid. On the heavier (and stiffer) rod, backing the drag off can help with not losing them. There are specific Egi (Japanese: “squid lure”) rods. These often have a fast action (fast taper so there is a lot of bend in the tip but the body and base of the rod is a bit stiffer) and maybe a softer tip. If squid fishing is all you are interested in then feel free to get one of these rods but a 7 foot light rod will usually suffice. THE RIGS I enjoy the pursuit of squid so am happy to put the time in rather than treating it as a rushed means to an end. I fish one jig at a time attached to a swivel and duolock clip. If I am having trouble finding the bottom I can put a ball sinker in front of the jig. If it is purely for catching bait then you can improve your chances by setting two or three jigs up in a paternoster arrangement. This can work well in current but if you snag up it can be rather expensive. My rig for catching cuttlefish is a swivel then immediately after a small ball sinker fixed to say 10lb line (I friction lock the sinker in place by passing the line through the eye say 4 times), 60cm of line then a slow sinking small 1.6 or 1.8 brightly coloured jig. The ball sinker helps the jig get to the bottom quickly. Once there a small lift gets sinker and jig off the bottom, then lower the rod so the sinker drops to the bottom but the jig sinks very slowly giving cuttlefish and squid time to spot it. Let it sit for say 10 seconds and lift the line again. If you feel a bit of resistance then it can be a cuttlefish in the area so let it sit on the bottom a bit longer. They have smaller tentacles than squid so the smaller jig is required to hook them up more consistently. If you think you are getting hits but not hooking up look for a drop of white goo on the tines. This is a good indicator that it was a cephalopod (usually a cuttlefish) playing with the lure. If you hook up an feel resistance keep tension in the line all the way as you retrieve to prevent them dropping off the tines. You can put a jig (or squid spike complete with dead pilchard or similar) underneath a float as a more relaxed way of fishing. This is also a great way of slowly working across weed beds when you really don’t want to snag up. THE LOCATION Fish areas with weed and sand patches and maybe a little bit of structure. It will be the sort of area bait fish will congregate. If you are at a jetty look for the tell tale black ink marks indicating people have caught them there before. An example of this are jetties or the local baths as the netted structure can hold bait fish You can use tools such as Google earth look for the weed and sand patches as a starting point but there is no real substitute for getting out there and trying under different conditions. TIDES, TIMES, SEASON AND WEATHER My personal experience is that tides in general have little to do with catching squid. Now before I get hammered for this, the whole harbour does not start firing up the minute you get X minutes before or after low or high tide. If that was the case I’d look at the tide chart and head down to any spot by the harbor and catch squid. In specific locations tides may play a part. There might be back eddies which bunch up baitfish encouraging squid to hang around these locations more frequently. The tides do have an impact on where I fish in that the water becomes so shallow I am frequently at risk of snagging up on the exposed weed beds. The squid is both an extremely competent predator but also prey for other species so they have to be a little cautious when hunting – I find I have a little more success at dusk and dawn when they seem to be feeding more actively. Advice I’ve heard before is that from 10am till 2pm they tend to go into deeper water but having said that I’ve caught them all hours of the day. Over the years I've found that I seem to catch more squid in the warmer summer months but consistently bigger squid in the winter months. I've been told that squid don't like the change in salinity after heavy rains and that puts them off. I have a tendency to ignore that advice these days for a number of reasons. Sydney harbour is around 10 to 35 metres deep depending on where you are. The deepest part I am aware of is near pier one at 43m give or take. The average depth is about 13m depending on your source of information. Even allowing for lots of run-off it would take a fair bit of water to dramatically change the salinity of that 13m of water column. More importantly, it is not like they can hop out of the harbour and they still need to eat so a squid jig in the water has a chance of catching a squid. The reduced visibility is a pain but I've still caught squid in the cloudy water we get after really heavy rains. THE TECHNIQUE If you can fish soft plastics then you can fish squid jigs. All the basic concepts are similar. Before I get into this I had an aha moment in a quiet bay in Sydney which dramatically changed the way I fish for squid. I had a size 3 jig on and a rather large squid followed it into the shallows. It grabbed the jig but the slightest movement of the jig saw it being released with the squid backing away slightly. This happened about 5 times. The squid wanted the jig. It was of a size that the jig was no obvious threat but it was still timid. I thought about it then I waited till the squid grabbed the jig again and with a quick sharp snap of the rod tip I set the jig tines, after which the squid was mine. I have seen this aggressive and then timid behaviour multiple times since then and I slow the movement of the jig sufficiently to encourage the squid to grab the jig at which point I set the tines. This method has worked its way into my retrieves. Another aha moment has been that when distracted I have let the jig sit on the bottom a bit longer than usual. It is a pleasant surprise how often the next flick has resulted in some weight on the line which turns out to be a squid. The pause gives them time to grab the jig. You have got your gear, some squid jigs and a viable location and head out squidding for the first time. First thing to check is the sink rate. Let out about 2m of line from the tip of the rod and hold the jig just under the surface of the water. Lower the rod tip quickly so the jig can free fall. Count down the time it takes to get 1m – usually 3 seconds but this can vary. I use slow sinking jigs over shallow weed beds and faster sinking jigs if I want to get down to the bottom quickly. The guideline is fish as close to the bottom as you can WITHOUT snagging up. If it is weedy 3m underneath the surface then you can count down say 6 seconds and stay above the weed. If you are fishing beyond the weeds in slightly deeper water and a sandy bottom you can let it reach the bottom. Thus if I am fishing water I think is about 10m deep I count to 30 or a little more with my 3 second per meter jigs. If you lift the jig back off the bottom say 1m then allow at least 4 seconds for it to get back down to the sandy bottom. The jigs are designed to land nose down with the tail swinging slightly in the current. Very tempting for a squid to ambush and grab. When I started, the easiest way to fish a jig was to estimate the depth of the water, cast out, count down the lure (or watch for the sag in the line just like when fishing plastics) till it hit the bottom and then use a medium paced lift with about 1 to 2m of rod movement to get it off the bottom, reel in the slack as you lower the rod and then count it down to the bottom again. Repeat until the squid jig is at your feet. If there are weeds or snags in front of you lift the rod tip high and then retrieve the last part at a faster rate to clear the snags. Watch behind your jig as you bring it up as they can be following. If they do then pause the jig to allow them to grab it. Turn it side on to the squid to expose the body and give the squid an easy target. I find giving it the smallest of intermittent twitches lets them know your jig is still active but you need the pauses to give a hesitant squid the chance to strike. When they have the jig and short sharp flick of the jig will set the tines. Fan your casts out and work an area. Change jigs and work the area again. If nothing happens then the squid are not there or not interested. Move to the next area and repeat the process. Squid have good eyes and can swim quickly so as I got better at it I started to change the retrieve to incorporate more movement to get their attention. That is, a double flick and pause to let it get down to the bottom. These days I use a subsurface walk the dog action which involves a short triple flick which imparts a darting motion (both up and down and sideways) to the jig and then pause to let it slowly settle and allow them to grab it. The next set of flicks has the additional benefit of setting the tines if they have grabbed the jig without me being aware of it. The Japanese use a retrieve which incorporates a very vigorous sweeping movement of the rod. The theory behind it is that it gets the squid's attention and revs them up - you can find demonstrations on the internet or the Yamashita video link above. When winding in keep steady pressure on them but allow a bit of flex in the rod and your hand movements. Do not jerk the rod as you can pull the jig. They tire easily so you will get them in sooner or later. I lose very few squid on braid and that is only if they are barely hooked. When they are in close I make an assessment of how to land them. When touched they will often startle and ink. If you get inked it is not funny. If your mate gets inked it is the funniest thing ever. They need water in their jet to be able to expel ink so if you can pick them up without scaring them and lay them head down the water will trickle out. If they are hooked well enough so I can dead lift them out of the water I lower them down to about 10cm above the ground and time their spin so the jet is pointing away from me as I lay them down. Using a landing net is one of the surest ways of getting them if you come from behind the hood as their immediate response is to use the jet to make their escape. Problem is you will likely have to clean ink off the net. If (and more likely when) you catch a squid then remember exactly where you cast. Southern Calamari often travel in twos or threes. Arrow squid in groups sometimes more than 10 (8 from 8 casts is my record). Keep an eye behind the squid as you wind in as it may be followed by other squid. If you are by yourself and you can get that squid jig back out there quickly you have a very good chance of catching multiple squid. If you have a mate with you estimate roughly where the squid you are hooked on to is and get your mate to case alongside and a little past your squid jig and then work it back a little quicker than you are bringing in the squid. Fairly often your mate will hook up too and if you keep one of the squid in the water and get the jig out again you may pick up a few more. Fishing from the kayak The advantage of fishing for squid from the kayak is that I can cover ground and get in some areas which will not always be comfortable for boats. I keep a bucket on my kayak in which to drop the squid and avoid getting ink over me and the kayak. The aim is to cover ground till you find them. One of my more effective methods is to line up about 5 to 8m off the shoreline and then cast ahead and parallel to the shore and specifically the outer edge of the drop off. I want to fish just outside the weed beds. This allows any squid in the weed beds and in deeper water watch the squid jig flick by. Alternatively I can also cast towards shore and then count it down the drop off but I find that limits the ground I can cover. There are a number of weed beds in Sydney which go on for a fair distance at a pretty constant depth (say 1 to 3m below the kayak). When fishing these I use a slow sinking and really fan my casts out. If you have a spare rod holder you can put out a jig on a float set at about 1m below surface which will follow the kayak as you amble along. I've caught enough squid on the sleeper jig to not be surprised by it. MEASURING THEM As the tentacles can stretch or shrink rather than tip to tip the most consistent way of measuring them is to lay them of the belly and just measure the hood. This southern calamari hood was 38cm and you can see the green eyes in the top photo. SOME SUGGESTIONS AS HOW TO PREPARE AND STORE THEM To keep them I have a few Ziplock bags with me and put them straight into the bag and then into the freezer. These frozen squid have caught me quite a few kings and jewfish (biggest being 104cm). Be warned. There is something in the ink which over time works its way through the edges of the ziplock bags and can stain whatever it is the bag was lying on. I’m going to put together some photos on the method I use to strip them for both food and bait but here is a description. Once you have some squid if you plan to use them as bait you can put them down as whole baits but I prefer to strip them. Run your hand behind the upper side of the head and into the hood and break the join with your finger. Pull the head out. Either a whole bait or cut in half lengthwise for two baits. The two wings can be separated from the body by working the join with your fingernails. Minimum of two baits there but I slice them in strips to get more. Find the feather inside the top of the hood and pinch out with fingernails and throw away. I run a knife along where it was and open the whole hood out so I can cut long strips. If you want to keep squid for eating they are prepared more or less the same way but you don't open up the hood and you clean the inside and outside of the hood. If you want to keep them for fishing buy a packet of sandwich sized ziplock bags and drop them in there and do not wash them in freshwater. Freeze them in the bag for your next fishing outing. I find they keep quite well and I can also use them whole when chasing jewfish. A few methods on how to fish them for kings and jewfish (still to come). I like using Cuttlefish as bait for kings as they come in a convenient snack size. My usual way of hooking these is to use a 6/0 circle hook at the tip of the hood and parallel with the cuttlebone as per this photo below. This one probably needed a little bit more of the hook exposed. We often like to use unweighted squid sections shore based and then let them drift down through the water column. We use a 7 foot to 9 foot outfit running say 15 to 20 pound braid with a 30lb leader and either a Gamakatsu 6/0 (or 5/0) octopus circle hook or Mustad light gauge circle hook of around 6/0. Surprisingly, even with a squid strip (diamond or triangle shaped we can cast 10 to 15m. With the Gamakatsu the sink rate is about 3 seconds per meter. To slow it down even further I switch to the Mustand light gauge hook. You make an assumption about how deep the area is and then when you think it is close to the bottom stop the free fall and bring the strip closer to the surface and then let it free fall again. You bring it in an down and upwards zig zag pattern before casting it out again. We can do the same with the squid head but it casts even further due to the added weight. To pin the squid strip either put the hook through once about 2cm from the end of the squid at the thicker part or feed it back through a second time for that added security. Drop it into the water directly in front of you to check the sink rate before then casting it out. To pin the squid head run the hook in then out in the fleshy part between the eyes. Make sure the circle hook is exposed. When you feel a kingfish (or similar) takes the bait flick the bail arm open for a few seconds to let them take it without resistance and swallow (rather than spit) bait before flicking the bail closed again. Now have fun fighting the kingfish. If you get bored casting and retrieving the strip or head we can put it under a float and let it sit off the structure we are on. I like using water bombs for several reasons. They are cheap $3 for 200. They are colourful so it makes them easy to spot. For the environmentally conscious you can get biodegradable ones but I find I rarely lose these so when done I pop them and then put them in the bin. I can change the size of them depending on my needs. Blow them up more if you have a good tail wind helping you put them out. Reduce the size of them if you are casting into the wind for less surface area to grab. You can even partially fill them with water to add to the casting weight. There is a wonderful knot called a Cow Hitch which I can use to create a double loop through which I fit the end of the balloon through. I do this on the braid height to set the depth of the bait and then use a long pendulum cast to get the squid out there. It is wonderful because it doesn't appear to damage my braid in any way. When I am done for the session and have popped the balloon I can pull the tag of the balloon through the braid and then straighten out the line. The disadvantage of this method is that it is difficult to change the position of the balloon and thus depth of the bait. With patience you can open the hitch up and then re-tie it further up or down the line. Cow hitch steps. Firstly create loop where you want to place the balloon and the put your index finger and thumb through the loop. Spread the index finger and thumb and then roll the wrist down so that both digits fall outside the loop. Now close the digits to create two loops. Lay these two loops side by side with a hole large enough to fit the balloon stem through. Feed the balloon stem through and then pull the slack out of the hitch. Finished product: ODDS AND ENDS (still to come) Squid Jig design @savit had been doing some reading on squid jig design and sent me a few links to share in this article http://www.squidfish.net/squidjigdesign.shtml http://www.squidfish.net/forums/index.php?/forum/27-homemade-squid-jigs-and-tackle/ http://www.fishingpatents.com/japan-squid-jig-patents-1.shtml http://www.fishingpatents.com/japan-squid-jig-patents-2.shtml Old squid I find when squid has been in the sun for a little too long it turns a fabulous shade of pink which would do a first time pale skinned visitor from the UK proud after spending a little too long sunbathing on one of our magnificent beaches. It is also a similar colour to some of the cheaper store bought squid and when I see it in this colour in the shops I often shy away from it. Rather than throwing it out, what I have found is that it makes a pretty good bait for use in crab traps and witches hat hoop nets for blue swimmer crabs (especially when it starts to get a bit fragrant). It is also a better option than contributing to our garbage dumps. Thank you and something to think about If you have gotten this far then thank you for taking the time to read this as there is a lot of information above to process. At the time of writing this there is about 15 years of chasing squid and assisting others behind this post. One of my favourite high school teachers would utter two words of advice when demonstrating complicated mathematical proofs. These were, “have faith”, and it is advice which has served me well in the years since. I don’t mean it from a biblical sense but in a practical “I can’t see the end result from where I am but I trust I will get there”, sense. Anyone who has put together Ikea flatpack furniture will have experienced this. The same comes with squidding. There are times I feel I’ve lost my Mojo but with the right gear, technique and persistence you will feel that pulsing weight on the end of your line. Fishing for squid side by side with other people it is rare for them to pull squid after squid out while I am getting nothing. The techniques work and I have faith that they will continue to do so. To summarise (assuming you have suitable gear and jigs): • Pick areas which have a mixture of sand and weed • Fish as close to the bottom as you can without snagging up (the mental countdown will assist with this) • Short sharp movements to get their attention with pauses to allow them to grab the jig • Fan your casts out • Consider a jig change (vary colour, size and maybe sink rate) or two • Move along to the next area or put the squid jigging aside for 30 or so minutes and do something else like fishing soft plastics before trying again • Use a soft hand when bringing them in to avoid pulling jigs and generally there is no need to rush as they tire quickly • Remember where you hooked up as they of travel in schools and if you can get the jig out there quickly you can often pick up a few more • Care when landing them as you can lose them at your feet and they may still be loaded with ink

Thank you for the compliment, Pickles. I'm looking forward to meeting you when @big Neil gets up here in the next few months (assuming NSW doesn't get shut down again due to the recent outbreaks).

Hi Again, I went fishing with an Italian friend, Stefano, last Saturday in Sydney harbour. No squid. No fish action either. After finding out that he used to fly fish back home in Europe I suggested we try for some blackfish on fly. He had no suitable gear but fortunately I had both my saltwater 7 and 9 weight rods and a few reels in the car. I set him up on the 9 weight (I know overkill for luderick but it was all I had spare) with one of the floating lines, one of my home made strike indicators and a weighted weed fly and explained the concept. We didn't have burley but based on recent successes I didn't think it was necessary (although I'd prefer to have some if I have a choice). Once I'd seen he knew how to handle a fly rod I set up my own gear and fished alongside him. We don't need to cast far (less than 6m) as we are working the edge of the weeds. The weed fly generally about 2m +/- 50cm under the strike indicator. After about 30 minutes without action I was getting concerned that Stefano would think I'd been pulling his leg about this blackfish on fly business. Then my strike indicator ducked under the water. I set the fly and called out to Stefano who came over to watch the fight. I didn't have a long handled fishing net but fortunately Stefano hand lined the fish up at the end of the fight and was kind enough to take this photo. After seeing this Stefano went for it with renewed enthusiasm. At this point @Mike89 rocked up to join us. I left them to work what we thought was the prime area and moved backwards and forwards along the rock wall. At one stage I saw Stefano's strike indicator go down but he missed the strike. Mike then pulled out a legal blackfish right in front of Stefano which left my Italian mate feeling a bit sweet and sour at the same time. Unfortunately they were not playing hard and Stefano and I were on a time limit. It turns out the week before Mike caught 12 (10 legal) blackfish fishing the same sort of area. It was one of his better sessions to date and it was without any burley. The area's we have been fishing have a bit of tidal flow and a lot of ferry movements. I suspect the resulting wash and currents ensures a plentiful supply of small pieces of weed in the water which closely resemble the flies we are using. I'll have to try some areas with less water flow to see if the flies are still effective when the luderick are around. Previously my home made strike indicators (indicator yarn, a small o-ring, and some braid to tie it up) were working well for just one fishing session after which they would absorb water a lot more quickly and lose their buoyancy part way through a session. I've since been trying two types of floatant to solve this problem. The first is dry fly silicon mucilin - there is a pocket in which you drop the fly/indicator and turn it upside down to saturate it and then squeeze off the excess and allow to dry. The second is a wipe on silicon gel. Both have worked very well to date and have lasted the whole fishing session. Stefano did point out that in some ways we were essentially fishing an artificial bait with a float. I agree in that we are not having to work the fly in the traditional sense but we are still having to get the fly in the strike location using the weight of the fly line. The actual fight is the really fun part as they put an awesome bend in the rods.

Hi SB05. As a starting point is it set up as left hand or right hand. You have an Alvey so it sounds like you are familiar with this direct drive reel but if I don't start with the simple questions I'll probably kick myself later. There is a one way bearing inside of it which will allow free spool in one direction and allow the drag to work in the other direction. Which model reel Is my next question. I have several and the drag system is a little different in each one. Even better can you take out the spool and take some photos. Regards, Derek

Hi @JamesH. I now own 4 of the ArrowZ rods. The ultra light (AAS-270SUL), the bream surface (AAS-270BS 2-12g), one of the Snapper rods (AAS-270H) and recently the 9 foot (ShoreSpin 9', 2 pc, 14 - 25lb AAS-290SS). You are right that the light version is excellent for the hardbodies and so is the bream surface. I'm loving them both for surface lures like the Sugapen. Unfortunately the way that the supplier sets up their website you have to jump around to find a few of the rods. I set two friends up with the 270UL and if I knew about it at the time I probably would have jumped over the bream surface and gone that way too. I don't think you will go far wrong with either but in my case sometimes I fish up a little off the water and that slightly stronger backbone of the estuary gives me a little more confidence if I have to dead lift a fish out of the water. I also like the slightly heavier lure rating for punching out lures such as size 3 squid jigs (about 14 gram). If you get the chance watch Australian Sand Flats fishing. He gives the ArrowZ rods range a reel (pun intended) work out. Hope this helps. Derek

Somewhere along the years from someone in the fishing community I heard that Shimano, Daiwa and Okuma all have big production facilities with good quality control in China. As a result the gear is both well made and pretty cost competitive for what you get. While I am a big Shimano fan (I used to work near their Sydney offices and the after sales staff have looked after me brilliantly over the years) I have no problem recommending the other two brands as a starting point when assisting people with gear selection.

$230 budget - Challenge accepted. A proviso - Have a really good look at the 10lb braid my concern is that it is thicker and heavier than you really need and you will lose casting distance (especially on lighter plastics). Really recommend going with a 4lb (overtests) or skinny 6lb and learn to play the fish. Rod and reel combo: Shimano Sienna Quickfire 7' 2500 Spinning Combo 7 ft $89 (Sienna reel usually over $50). Rod is graphite and has short butt which makes working lures easier. I've bought 2 of these for my nephews and have set up another 2 people on a budget with these. One of them was catching Sydney Salmon on soft plastics with this outfit several months ago ( right @JahmonW ) Backing for braid to pack up spool and the remainder you can use as leader - Platypus Super-100 300M Mono Line Clear 8 lb $22 Braid 150yds/m depending - 4lb such as power pro ($32) or berkley X5 ($20) or skinny 6lb Shimano Kairiki ($28) or Daiwa J Braid ($25 or $35 depending on 4 or 8 carrier). I prefer my braid in crystal colour but that is a personal preference. Minimum spend so far $89 + $22 + $20 = $131 These are genuine online and local prices but you will have to search where or PM me. Did you want to talk plastics and lures now?

The Unicorn exists.....

I usually work Monday to Friday so weekends are generally the best for me. Also afternoons when daylight savings comes back. Good luck with the surgery.

A legal luderick on fly fishing gear on your first outing. Welcome to the club Andrew - the first of what I hope are many more to come.

For the group I fish them with they have been very effective. There are other brands out there such as Lunker City which make a similar style plastic but value for money the Slapstix (6 or 9 inch) seem to be the best. Our preference is the pink or the white at equal first with the clear/twinkle in third. Do not buy the blue ones - there is something about the material that they use which means it seems to tear open a bit more easily and especially when you insert a jig head. When I first started with them the preferred rigging method seemed to be with worm hooks. Very effective in their way but for me it made it difficult to work the water column effectively. I started using TT Tournament jig heads with the bullet head. I worked out a retrieve which allowed me to get a sub-surface walk the dog action which when mixed with pauses turned out to be very effective in firing up the kings.

About 2 summers ago we had a whole lot of kings move into Middle Harbour. They were frequently hitting at least 2 bays I know off as there was a good school of bait fish in both of them. There were a group of us hitting those areas shore based whenever we had spare time. We found the tide didn't matter. We had a bit of action at the first dawn (sun starts sending light over the horizon) and then at the second dawn (when it got over the hills) and this would continue till about 11am. This was happening daily for several months so wasn't tide dependent. Word got out (damn the application fishbrain) and it started to get busier and busier. On one morning there were at least 10 of us on the wall alongside the water. As a group I think we were pulling in 20 to 40 kings daily (all shorebased). About 1/3 to 1/2 of the hook ups were on squid. Slapstix and 3" minnows probably picked up another 1/3 and the rest were on a combination of hardbodies and surface poppers.

Are you talking about tides from an access point of view or from a fishing point of view. The kings move around. In middle harbour it has never seemed particularly dependent on the tides. Or to put it another way, the whole of middle harbour doesn't suddenly fire up at X minutes before or after high/low tide? If that was the case it would be easy and a few more of us would have cracked the code long ago. Where tides might make a difference is Spit bridge as it is a choke point where a lot of water will pass through in one direction or another. Just get out there - the method of floating strips under floats has been very effective for my group of fishing mates over the years (when the kings are around).

My pleasure @Devon - you have been pretty effective that combo so far. Be interesting to see how it goes when we get some burley into the mix.

Turns out that @Devon responds well to peer group pressure. He sent me this lovely photo today of a blackfish he caught on fly rod with a message confirming that the strike indicator I gave him to try worked a treat. Turns out that @Devon is also a bit competitive as well as being a bit of an over-achiever as he picked up this really odd looking (but legal) yellow/green/silveryfish on surface lure in the same session. Funny looking fly....

Hi again, Went out again with @Mike89 last weekend to try for blackfish on fly again. While he was heading back to his car to get some items I saw my strike indicator get ripped under the water. I quickly lifted the rod to set the hook and felt some weight on. A few minutes later this one came to the surface. As I was feeling a little smug I took a photo to send to Mike while he was at the car with a text message of "this is what luderick look like on fly". I missed the moment as he came back before I could send it. Thought I'd share it with you instead. Legal but not worth measuring. Went back in the water. I had some chores so Mike persisted without me and came back at me with this lovely photo. Recently we also caught up with @Devon and with afternoons like this fishing mid-winter in Sydney it hits home how lucky we are to live near this wonderful harbour.

Both the Squidgie and the Berkley minnows in your photo should be absolutely fine - I've probably got older and still usable. Just feel them and put a bend in them and if they don't crack or tear then you are right to use them. If you plan to fish the plastics then dump the mono for two reasons. Even if it hasn't been damaged by UV (stored so very unlikely) it can develop a memory and can be an absolute pain to use (the stretch will also make it feel spongy). The use of braid with plastic is highly recommended. It gives you extra casting distance and the sensitivity is what makes it so fun and effective to fish. You can feel bites 50 meters away. Braid overtests so something in the 4 (my preference) to 6lbs would work well with the plastics shown in your box. I fish lower North shore and if you can't find anyone of your group that fishes light soft plastics effectively then I might be able to give you an introduction to them. The plastics are best fished with the graphite rod. They have a very better sensitivity than the older fibreglass rods.

If it is claimed. Check the lure records section:

Just slots in to third place I think. Record is 47cm. Second place is 43cm (which I just equalled on fly the other week). The 3rd place was 41cm. Beautiful catch on SP. Think I've only ever had one on soft plastic (and one on a vibe) so I suspect it would have been a bit of a surprise.

From my experience they will spin in circles if dropped. By keeping in contact with the lure on the way down (tight line) it then behaves like a pendulum and can only swim in one direction.

Even the fight almost feels like you are hand lining it in as the strength of the rod certainly isn't in the top part of the rod. Also something about being able to land a lure less than the weight of a pinkie fingernail about 20 to 25m away when you load up the rod correctly and get the timing of your hauling right. I know it is more about accuracy than distance but I'd love to spend some time with someone who can get the whole length of fly line in the air.

Hi Noel. You weren't kidding. That is a fat specimen. Pretty sure I've seen basketballs less round than your blackfish. 🙂

Thank you GH. So far they seem to be working pretty well as they don't put a kink in the line and don't seem to slip very much when false casting. Going to give some to @Mike89 and @Devon to trial over the next few weeks.